Polo inhibits progenitor self-renewal and regulates Numb asymmetry by phosphorylating Pon.

ABSTRACT: Self-renewal and differentiation are cardinal features of stem cells. Asymmetric cell division provides one fundamental mechanism by which stem cell self-renewal and differentiation are balanced. A failure of this balance could lead to diseases such as cancer. During asymmetric division of stem cells, factors controlling their self-renewal and differentiation are unequally segregated between daughter cells. Numb is one such factor that is segregated to the differentiating daughter cell during the stem-cell-like neuroblast divisions in Drosophila melanogaster, where it inhibits self-renewal. The localization and function of Numb is cell-cycle-dependent. Here we show that Polo (ref. 13), a key cell cycle regulator, the mammalian counterparts of which have been implicated as oncogenes as well

SUBMITTER: Wang H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3047501 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature